The tech giant is teaming with LG Electronics to develop products including outdoor security cameras, floodlight cameras, indoor security cameras, doorbells, thermostats and smart deadlock bolts, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday (Oct. 6), citing sources familiar with the matter.
The products will be part of a collection of devices set to roll out Oct. 13 that work with Apple’s new smart home hub, along with an updated HomePod mini and fresh TV set-top box, the sources said.
We’d love to be your preferred source for news.
Please add us to your preferred sources list so our news, data and interviews show up in your feed. Thanks!
Bloomberg characterizes the launch as an official reboot of Apple’s HomeKit, which it introduced in 2014 but has lagged compared to similar products from Amazon and Google.
Apple hopes to use its smart home products and Siri artificial intelligence (AI) assistant to jumpstart the category, the report said. The company also plans to introduce its own offerings, such as a privacy-focused home-monitoring device, security monitoring, and an iteration of its smart home hub that attaches the screen to a robotic arm.
According to a Bloomberg report from last week, Apple’s smart home hub will recognize the user and display their contacts, messages, calendar appointments, notes and preferred app layout. It can also provide answers to questions that are based on the user’s data.
The device can also control thermostats, door locks and other connected products, as well as video calls, intercom-style communication, music playback and photo slideshows.
PYMNTS wrote last month that all of Apple’s recent and future product launches have been designed to back one argument: Because Apple controls the hardware, operating system and customer data, it’s the best-positioned company to provide AI.
“We made massive advancements in the most important areas: intelligence, performance, battery and camera,” CEO John Ternus said at a recent product showcase, describing the iPhone as the best personal device for AI and pointing to its privacy protections and its deep knowledge of its own customers.
“If Siri works as promised, tasks get simple: adding recipe ingredients to a grocery list mid-conversation or flagging an on-screen alert when a tracked webpage changes,” PYMNTS wrote. “Apple isn’t bolting an agent onto someone else’s phone. It’s building the agent into the one people already carry.”
Add as Preferred Source
